VOLUME 2 ISSUE 18

	Monarch butterflies reportedly have a sense of taste about 12,000 times more sensitive than humans. Which of the following statements about butterflies is also true? a. There are about 115,000 species of butterflies and moths. b. Butterflies use their antennae to taste. c. Though it depends on the species, the male butterfly is usually larger. d. If you touch a butterfly's wings, it will die. Think you know? click here for the answer. 18 May 1980 – Mount St. Helens, a volcanic peak in southwestern Washington, suffers a massive eruption, killing 57 people and devastating some 210 square miles of wilderness. 24 May 1543 – Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus dies in what is now Frombork, Poland. The father of modern astronomy, he was the first modern European scientist to propose that Earth and other planets revolve around the sun. 27 May 1999 – The International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes and crimes against humanity. A D V E R T I S E M E N T		It's undeniable: The buzz is louder this spring. The hum we're talking about comes from rising discussion of the environment and what each of us can do to safeguard it. This call to action isn't new. In his book Ecocriticism, Greg Garrard credits Rachel Carson's Silent Spring (published in 1962) with introducing “modern environmentalism.” But Bernard Mergen's American Studies International journal review of Green Screen: Environmentalism and Hollywood Cinema, notes that author David Ingram identifies more than 150 movies produced from the 1890s through the 1990s in which environmental issues play a significant role. Today the call is getting louder, as demonstrated by the growing Questia collection of books and articles on environmentalism. And at least some of the news is better, say Steve Brooks, Gerald Marten and Amanda Suutari. In their World Watch piece “Environmental Tipping Points: A New Slant on Strategic Environmentalism", they explain how small positive changes can make a big difference in promoting "co-adaptation, helping societies and ecosystems fit together sustainably." If you're feeling the buzz, visit TryScience's Citizens for Planet Earth pages and World Resources Institute's EarthTrends environmental information to learn what you can do to help. Then put your knowledge to work by checking out the ecotourism opportunities in the Conde Nast Traveler Green List. Information, please. Great online reference tools. There are times when your online work is more fact-finding mission than comprehensive research. Whether you need to check out a detail for a huge project or you simply want a quick answer to a question, several reliable online reference tools can make short work of such tasks. To learn about these ready references and decide which to add to your search toolkit, click here. Speeches part deux: Polish your presentation style. In the last edition of Q&A!, this column focused on developing terrific speech content (see "I have to give a speech? Oh no!"). For some people, the prospect of presenting the material is even more daunting. Luckily, there are practical steps you can take to improve your presentation effectiveness. Click here to learn how to deliver a speech that your audience — and you — will enjoy. Dear Nancy, I'm doing a little spring housecleaning and want to clear out old projects in my Questia Workspace. How can I do this? Tidying Up in Toledo Click here for Nancy's response.

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